Chix, Dux look to keep spirit of season in tournament play

It will be the day after Christmas, but both the Zeeland East and Zeeland West boys basketball teams are hoping to give themselves another gift.

Namely, the first of what are hopefully two victories at holiday tournaments.

ALAN BABBITT

It will be the day after Christmas, but both the Zeeland East and Zeeland West boys basketball teams are hoping to give themselves another gift.

Namely, the first of what are hopefully two victories at holiday tournaments.

Zeeland East, ranked No. 6 in Class B, is playing Grand Rapids Kenowa Hills at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Cornerstone University. Tipoff follows the 6 p.m. game between East Kentwood at Greenville.

Zeeland West will face Lansing Everett at 6 p.m. Friday at the Battle Creek Central High School. Tipoff precedes the game between Albion and Battle Creek Central.

“You can get in a tournament like this or you can sit for two weeks and get fat.”

Mickey Cochran
Zeeland East coach

It’s a good time to be playing, Zeeland East coach Mickey Cochran said.

“You can get in a tournament like this or you can sit for two weeks and get fat. I’ve done it both ways,” Cochran said. “This way, we play Friday and we play Monday, then we come back and play Jan. 6, so there’s not really that much of a disruption (of routine).

“This way, we get a pretty good flow going through the holidays and that’s one of the things we want to do.”

The Chix are off to a 4-0 start. They last played Tuesday, winning at Holland 64-39 in nonleague play.

Kenowa Hills is 1-2 and coming off a 53-35 win over winless Muskegon Mona Shores in O-K Black Conference play.

Luke Palmer’s 16 points led Kenowa Hills. He also scored 25 against Comstock Park and 17 against Wyoming Rogers this season.

“Luke Palmer is a very good player for them,” Cochran said. “I’ve heard they’re pretty big and physical (but) our guys have been accustomed to that going against the Holland Christians and some of the other teams in this area that have big guys.

“Hopefully we’ll have some fresh legs and we’ll be able to attack them.”

The championship and consolation games for the Cornerstone tournament are Monday night.
Zeeland West (2-1) is facing an opponent playing only its second game this season.

Lansing Everett lost its first game Dec. 16 to Lansing Waverly 54-49 after getting outscored 20-12 during the fourth quarter. Adarius Beard led Everett with a game-high 23 points and four assists.
A winter storm canceled Everett’s game Friday.

Everett is a guard-oriented team, Zeeland West coach John Mielke said.

“They’ve got two pretty talented guards, one of them is returning all-Lansing area second-team player,” Mielke said, referring to Beard. “They’re undersized compared to us, but most teams seem to be compared to us.

“We’ll have to get the ball out of (Beard’s) hands if possible. We’ve been working on full-court trapping. They can’t sit back and play straight up. They’re going to try to pressure us.”

The championship and consolation games for the Battle Creek Central tournament are Saturday night.